Juramentos são palavras, Palavras são vento
Catelyn Stark respondeu sua pergunta quando Robb se perguntou o mesmo. Se Freys são bandeirinhas de Tullys, eles devem deixar Starks passar.
Walder Frey, Lord of the Crossing, had assembled a force of near four thousand men at his castles on the Green Fork.
“Late again,” Catelyn murmured when she heard. It was the Trident all over, damn the man. Her brother Edmure had called the banners; by rights, Lord Frey should have gone to join the Tully host at Riverrun, yet here he sat.
“Four thousand men,” Robb repeated, more perplexed than angry. “Lord Frey cannot hope to fight the Lannisters by himself. Surely he means to join his power to ours.”
“Does he?” Catelyn asked. She had ridden forward to join Robb and Robett Glover, his companion of the day. The vanguard spread out behind them, a slow-moving forest of lances and banners and spears. “I wonder. Expect nothing of Walder Frey, and you will never be surprised.”
"He's your father's bannerman."
"Some men take their oaths more seriously than others, Robb. And Lord Walder was always friendlier with Casterly Rock than my father would have liked. One of his sons is wed to Tywin Lannister's sister. That means little of itself, to be sure. Lord Walder has sired a great many children over the years, and they must needs marry someone. Still …"
AGOT - Catelyn IX
Dentro do canto escuro, chamado mente de Walder
No mesmo capítulo, ela também explicou como a mente de Lord Walder funciona:
"Do you think he means to betray us to the Lannisters, my lady?" Robett Glover asked gravely.
Catelyn sighed. "If truth be told, I doubt even Lord Frey knows what Lord Frey intends to do. He has an old man's caution and a young man's ambition, and has never lacked for cunning."
Precedente para vassalos se voltando contra Senhores Supremos em favor da Coroa
Mais cedo, Catelyn se perguntou onde estão as lealdades dos bandeirinhas de seu pai:
Her father was the staunchest man who'd ever lived, and she had no doubt that he would call his banners … but would the banners come? The Darrys and Rygers and Mootons had sworn oaths to Riverrun as well, yet they had fought with Rhaegar Targaryen on the Trident, while Lord Frey had arrived with his levies well after the battle was over, leaving some doubt as to which army he had planned to join (theirs, he had assured the victors solemnly in the aftermath, but ever after her father had called him the Late Lord Frey).
AGOT - Catelyn V
Posição do Lorde Walder
No entanto, lorde Frey disse que queria ir a Correrrio, mas estava à espera de recolher todas as suas dívidas e Edmure perdeu antes disso. Quanto aos seus votos, ele corretamente aponta que jurou votos à Coroa também.
“Now that I have observed the courtesies, my lady, perhaps my sons will do me the honor of shutting their mouths. Why are you here?”
“To ask you to open your gates, my lord,” Catelyn replied politely. “My son and his lords bannermen are most anxious to cross the river and be on their way.”
“To Riverrun?” He sniggered. “Oh, no need to tell me, no need. I’m not blind yet. The old man can still read a map.”
“To Riverrun,” Catelyn confirmed. She saw no reason to deny it. “Where I might have expected to find you, my lord. You are still my father’s bannerman, are you not?”
“Heh, “ said Lord Walder, a noise halfway between a laugh and a grunt. “I called my swords, yes I did, here they are, you saw them on the walls. It was my intent to march as soon as all my strength was assembled. Well, to send my sons. I am well past marching myself, Lady Catelyn.” He looked around for likely confirmation and pointed to a tall, stooped man of fifty years. “Tell her, Jared. Tell her that was my intent.”
“It was, my lady,” said Ser Jared Frey, one of his sons by his second wife. “On my honor.”
“Is it my fault that your fool brother lost his battle before we could march?” He leaned back against his cushions and scowled at her, as if challenging her to dispute his version of events. “I am told the Kingslayer went through him like an axe through ripe cheese. Why should my boys hurry south to die? All those who did go south are running north again.”
AGOT - Catelyn IX
e
“We want to cross,” Catelyn told him.
“Oh, do you? That’s blunt. Why should I let you?”
For a moment her anger flared. “If you were strong enough to climb your own battlements, Lord Frey, you would see that my son has twenty thousand men outside your walls.”
“They’ll be twenty thousand fresh corpses when Lord Tywin gets here,” the old man shot back. “Don’t you try and frighten me, my lady. Your husband’s in some traitor’s cell under the Red Keep, your father’s sick, might be dying, and Jaime Lannister’s got your brother in chains. What do you have that I should fear? That son of yours? I’ll match you son for son, and I’ll still have eighteen when yours are all dead.”
“You swore an oath to my father,” Catelyn reminded him.
He bobbed his head side to side, smiling. “Oh, yes, I said some words, but I swore oaths to the crown too, it seems to me. Joffrey’s the king now, and that makes you and your boy and all those fools out there no better than rebels. If I had the sense the gods gave a fish, I’d help the Lannisters boil you all.”
AGOT - Catelyn IX
Lord Walder se lembra
Então ele expressou seu ressentimento em vários insultos da Casa Tully:
Your lord father did not come to the wedding. An insult, as I see it. Even if he is dying. He never came to my last wedding either. He calls me the Late Lord Frey, you know. Does he think I’m dead? I’m not dead, and I promise you, I’ll outlive him as I outlived his father. Your family has always pissed on me, don’t deny it, don’t lie, you know it’s true. Years ago, I went to your father and suggested a match between his son and my daughter. Why not? I had a daughter in mind, sweet girl, only a few years older than Edmure, but if your brother didn’t warm to her, I had others he might have had, young ones, old ones, virgins, widows, whatever he wanted. No, Lord Hoster would not hear of it. Sweet words he gave me, excuses, but what I wanted was to get rid of a daughter.
“And your sister, that one, she’s full as bad.
[...]
I proposed that Lord and Lady Arryn foster two of my grandsons at court, and offered to take their own son to ward here at the Twins. Are my grandsons unworthy to be seen at the king’s court?
[...]
Lord Arryn wouldn’t have him, or the other one, and I blame your lady sister for that. She frosted up as if I’d suggested selling her boy to a mummer’s show or making a eunuch out of him
AGOT - Catelyn IX
Conclusão
Então, em conclusão:
- Lorde Walder é um homem cauteloso que não assume riscos desnecessários. Por que ele deveria ter campo para um lado que estava perdendo?
- Lorde Walder é legalmente obrigado a seguir seu suserano, mas ele também está legalmente obrigado a ser fiel à Coroa. Claro que os votos significam pouco para um homem como ele, ele nunca foi excessivamente consciente sobre eles. Mas há precedentes, em guerras anteriores contra a Coroa, muitos senhores renunciaram a seus senhores locais e lutaram pelo rei.
- Ele tem parentesco com Lorde Tywin. A amada irmã de Lorde Tywin, Genna Lannister, é sua nora. Ele pode ter certeza de que, mesmo que Tywin Lannister destrua todos os outros, a Casa Frey estará segura, deixando-o pouco para se preocupar.
- Walder Frey só podia sentir a ruína no acampamento de Tully, por que ele deveria se juntar a ele? Qualquer poder de Tully que poderia exigir a retribuição é quebrado por Jaime. É claro que ele não é cego, os Starks estavam aqui e mais cedo ou mais tarde era esperado que Arryns estivesse aqui também. Juntos, eles deram aos Tullys uma chance vitoriosa, mas para entrar em Riverlands sem arriscar uma batalha com Tywin Lannister em Ruby Ford, eles precisavam de Lord of the Crossing, o que lhe dava enorme vantagem, algo que ele não estava disposto a desistir por nada. Agora era a hora de receber algo em troca.
- Lorde Walder não gosta muito de Tullys, Starks, Arryns ou Lannister. Ele odeia que todos olhem para ele. Ele odeia que Lorde Hoster Tully não tenha a filha como nora. Ele odeia que Arryns se recusou a criar seus netos.
Então, TLDR, Tullys poderia encomendar os Frey, mas os Freys ouviriam? Improvável.